"Hey, school pictures are coming up." Wes handed me a packet.
I opened it and took out the usual order form and brochure. "Hmm, they're offering black and white this year," I observed.
Wes grimaced. "How come they gotta make these things so expensive? We could buy our own camera for less than this."
"Yeah, an outdated model," I quipped.
"Shh. Monica coming."
I looked up and, sure enough, she was standing in the doorway. "Are you guys going to order pictures?"
"Nah, no point," Wes said. "'Sides, we don't have enough money."
I felt a twinge in my back and stretched. Maybe I should visit the nurse about that, I thought.Tomorrow was Saturday, so I decided to go then.
"Ben, you listening?"
"Huh?"
"We have to get to class now. Mr. Peterson will be awful mad if we're late."
"Well, see you later, Monica."
My back kept flaring up all day. I finally went to the clinic when it got so bad I couldn't concentrate.
"There's nothing wrong," the nurse assured me. "It's probably just growing pains."
It didn't feel like that to me. There was an insistent ache, and sometimes a prickle along my nerves. But I didn't say that.
I went back to my room with an ice pack, and that was that. .
